Jason Molina was the man, the inspiration, the words and, most of all, the voice behind Songs: Ohia, and Magnolia Electric Company. A major force, he died too young, aged 39, a victim of his battle with alcohol, and it is perhaps only now the importance of his legacy is making itself extant. Had he got sober, and maybe a bit happier, he would undoubtedly be where Jason Isbell is now today, Kindred spirits both, each had a canny way around a maudlin melody, built over with keenly observed lyrics, often those born of experience. And boy, was he prolific, issuing a torrent of albums, often more than one a year, as well as leaving a cache of tapes behind for his record company, Secretly Canadian, to slowly sift through.
Those good folk at Run For Cover Records are responsible for this curated compilation, and, in recognition of the circumstances of his passing, 10% of the profits of each copy of I Will Swim to You: A Tribute to Jason Molina will be donated to MusiCares® Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Fund. (Is it me, or is there not an all-too-tragic run of similar recordings just recently?) The contributors tend towards fellow travelers in the dusty outlands of contemporary gothic country noir, the broodier end of Americana, if you must, with MJ Lenderman, Sun June and Hand Habits (Meg Duffy) perhaps the best known. The songs traverse the whole of Molina’s catalog, with one song emanating from his posthumous stash.
It is MJ Lenderman that is first over the parapet, with a sumptuous “Just Be Simple,” with aching vocals and aching steel, undercut with some mournful piano. It reeks of resigned despair, and, if the original mines urban angst, this is a far lonelier expression of existential grief. That mood is magnified by (the?) Horse Jumper Of Love, who take the essence of slowcore or sadcore, the two terms near interchangeable, on a slow inexorable ride toward the buffers. “Blue Factory Flame” is a bit like listening to Crazy Horse, on a battery-operated tape deck, as it runs out of juice, the band getting slower and slower, with only the drummer maintaining any sense of forward propulsion.
If the mood is heading thataway, Trace Mountain lifts the mood a little with “The Dark Don’t Hide It.” The working name of Dave Benton, his is a lo-fi steel and piano construct, that is pleasingly mawkish rather than dankly depressing. One of the more covered songs in the Molina canon, there is stiff competition with the versions by Great Lake Swimmers and by Kevin Morby with Waxahatchee, let alone the original. Yet, in a testimony to the caliber of the song, each offer very different approaches, and this is perhaps the most appealing of the lot.
If brokenhearted males all tend to sing alike, thank goodness that Sun June is on hand to give some contrast. Here she channels the voice of Hope Sandoval with a similarly very Mazzy Star arrangement, giving “Leave the City” some bittersweet charm. The exquisite trumpet of the original is not even attempted, and, if unfamiliar with the original, you wouldn’t even miss it. Runnner tries a similar transformative touch to “When Your Love Has Gone,” but sadly issues one of the few blanks on this album. It is perfectly serviceable version, but, by virtue of being studioed up into a glossy confection of echo and artifice, shimmery synths and lighters in the air, feels on the wrong album, where most else is sackcloth and ashes. Play separately and you’ll probably love it.*
Sadurn have seemingly a rep for taking intimate so seriously as to have you feel intrusive as you listen. Given “The Old Black Hen” is a curious outlier in the Molina lexicon, a song that has the Songs: Ohia version sound like it is from an old radio show hootenanny, beamed in from ’60s Appalachia, it was uncertain quite what they could do with it. But, by smoothing away many of the bouncier edges, they achieve one of the best re-interpretations here, with a lilting cadence and gently rolling gait, buoyed along by the pleasing moan of G(enevieve) de Groot. As her bandmates join in for a choral last stanza, it is simply beautiful.
Molina also found time to issue a couple of solo albums during his lifetime. “Everything Should Try Again” comes from the second of these, Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go, a disc seldom seen as amongst his best, being a ragbag of, effectively, demos. Advance Base is described, by Bandcamp, an artist who purveys “melancholic electronic songs in his basement.” He sounds a little like a badly out of tune Bill Callahan, but almost nails his version into being certainly more shipshape than the chaotic source material. I quite like it, but a little less may have been more. But he certainly warms you up for Hand Habits’ “Lioness,” where Duffy comes over all Kristin Hersh. The slowest song here, which is saying something, it is gloriously stark and gaunt, all spectral strings and occasional ghostly echoes. The vibe is quite distinct from the original, but manages to be both complementary and complimentary, so, yes, another good ‘un.
The shadow of Neil Young falls often across the work of Molina, and the unfortunately named Teen Suicide mine that quite astutely. Magnolia Electric Co. always gave great Shakey/Crazy Horse, apart from this song, “Whip Poor Will,” which was always more of an After the Gold Rush doomy downer. Rather than ape either, the version here follows the good-natured sway that typifies Harvest Moon. Clever, that, but, if equally clever, Friendship mange to destroy “Hard To Love a Man,” with all sorts of extraneous pots and pans percussion. Which does not suit a song thought by many to be one of Molina’s best.
Towards the end we get a glimpse of where Molina may have been going, had he lived, as Lutalo addresses a song from the Secretly Canadian vault, “Shadow Answers the Wall.” If the flurry of drum machine and synths sounds odd, it isn’t, Molina having graduated to using the same, post-MEC, making quite a good effort of it. And, whilst this track is not any improvement on Molina’s, it feels important to have its inclusion. (Lutalo, for interest, is a cousin of Big Thief’s Adrienne Lenker.)
The final track probably demanded that rearguard position courtesy the title, “Farewell Transmission.” Another wild card in this pack, Another Michael sings it in the style of Buggles. Despite that, and provided you don’t chase up the original version, it is charming and harmless, and, placed here, at the end, maybe sufficient to put a spring back in any step dampened down by dirge overkill.
I Will Swim to You is predominantly very good and is certainly a keeper. It serves several purposes, being, if not exactly a celebration of Molina’s muse, certainly a delayed wake in his honor. Plus, even if a decent stand alone by right, it would be unusual if it did not prompt a greater interest in Molina’s discography. How can it be that, as yet, there has been no package to draw together the best of his output? Finally it acts as a shop window too, for these bands and artists, many of whom fly under my radar. Full marks to Run For Cover and let’s now see if this awakes greater interest in the output of the troubled singer-songwriter.
* Oddly, a day or so after writing this, driving in my car, that Runnner track came up, on random. As the slow electronic drumbeat kicked in, I stopped, in awe, astonished to see how clearly my supposition had confirmed itself. It’s wonderful; excuse any earlier misgivings.
I Will Swim To You tracklisting:
- MJ Lenderman – Just Be Simple (Songs: Ohia cover)
- Horse Jumper of Love – Blue Factory Flame (Songs: Ohia cover)
- Trace Mountains – The Dark Don’t Hide It (Magnolia Electric Co. cover)
- Sun June/Leave The City (Magnolia Electric Co. cover)
- Runner/When Your Love Has Gone (Songs: Ohia cover)
- Sadurn/The Old Black Hen (Songs: Ohia cover)
- Advance Base/Everything Should Try Again (Jason Molina cover)
- Hand Habits/Lioness (Songs: Ohia cover)
- Teen Suicide/Whip Poor Will (Songs : Ohia cover)
- Friendship/Hard To Love A Man (Magnolia Electric Co. cover)
- Lutalo/Shadow Answers The Wall (Jason Molina cover)
- Another Michael/Farewell Transmission (Songs: Ohia cover)
I Will Swim To You is available on Bandcamp.
